My Hero Academia: Mega Izuku
by SeerKing
Summary: Getting a Quirk is great...usually. But getting a Quirk which everyone sees as a throwback to the time before Quirks isn't. Even so, Midoriya Izuku still dreams of becoming a Hero. Let's see how he does...
1. The Wondorous Transforming Gun Arm

"Kacchan!" - Speech

'_Dammit!_' - Thoughts

**"I AM HERE!"** \- All Might Speech

"_**Detroit Smash!**_" - Special Technique Usage

**Beta'd by BigCC**

**Chapter 1: The Wondrous Transforming Gun Arm**

_2XXX_

_3rd Year Classroom, Aldera Junior High School, Musutafu_

"Settle down...settle down." the teacher droned in a monotone. He was a middle-aged man wearing a grey suit and a pair of square glasses. He waited a moment for the class of rowdy teenagers to obey before he started speaking. "Now, since you are all in your third year, it's time for you all to start thinking about your futures."

Rummaging around in his desk, he pulled out a stack of papers from under his lectern and held them up. "I _should_ be helping you to prepare for this. I even prepared these Career Aptitude Tests ready for you...but you all want to be heroes anyway, so why waste our time?"

With that, the teacher threw his forms into the air as his students cheered and started showing off their Quirks. One boy had a neck that could extend, while another chomped the air with oversized jaws and teeth. One lit his hands on fire, while another let out a breath of ice. The array of Quirks was astounding. Out of the entire class though, only two boys didn't join in.

One was a boy with blond hair, whose red eyes seemed to be in a permanent scowl. He had his legs kicked up on his desk and a derisive sneer on his face. The other was a boy near the back of the class. He had puffy green hair and seemed to hunch in on himself as everyone else showed off. A curious thing to note was that he constantly seemed to rub his hands together for a brief moment before separating them like a nervous tick.

His blue, slightly metallic-looking hands.

"Yes, yes, you all have amazing Quirks, but cut it out kids, you aren't allowed to use them at school." the teacher droned.

As everyone else got under control, the angry blond boy scoffed loudly. "Oi teach, don't put me on the same level as these extras. _I'm_ the goddamn real deal, while the best of these rejects will be lucky to be a sidekick to a D-list hero."

"The hell man!?"

"Bakugō, you bastard! Looking down on us?!"

Bakugō smirked back arrogantly. "Of course I am, extras! I could fight all of you at once and come out without a scratch! Or do any of you weakling wanna' try and prove me wrong?" When only nervous, intimidated silence followed, Bakugō merely snorted again. "_That's_ what I thought."

"Hm, well you do have impressive test results." the teacher mused absently, ignoring the way his student was threatening his classmates. "Maybe you'll get your wish and get into U.A. as you want. It is your first choice, right?"

A rustle of whispers ran around the classroom at that casual announcement.

"U.A.?! The top Heroics School in Japan?!"

"The one with the 0.2% acceptance rate?!"

"It's impossible to get into!"

"Impossible for scrubs and extras like _you_ lot, but not for _me_!" Bakugō bared his teeth in a caricature of a smile. "_I_ got the top score in the mock tests, and _my_ Quirk is the strongest at this school! U.A. is the only place that's worthy of me!"

"Ah, Midoriya applied to U.A. too, didn't he?" the teacher mused.

This made another rustle go around the class. Unlike the previous one which was full of shock and awe, this one contained derisiveness and contempt.

"_Midoriya_? At _U.A._? Ha!"

"Why would someone with a Quirk more suited for a thug or a villain try for a Hero Course?"

"He's delusional!"

At each sneering comment, Midoriya Izuku shrunk down in his seat and hunched over.

"_Shut it_, extras!" Bakugō Katsuki shouted, leaping to his feet and letting off a small explosion from his palm that instantly quieted the jeering onlookers, causing many to reel back slightly. Once they were sufficiently cowed, he glared around and snarled. "Listen you scrubs! Deku ain't got a villain's Quirk, or have you all forgotten about the Battle Hero: Gunhead? His Quirk is **[Gatling]** for crying out loud! A lot more 'villainous' than Deku's is! Shut your pie-holes or I'll blow you up!"

No one, even the teacher, dared talk back to the angry boy.

"And Deku's gonna get unto U.A. because he's _my sidekick._" the blond boy continued, settling back into his seat. "All great heroes need a sidekick, like All Might had Sir Nighteye, so clam it if you don't want to find out what a face-full of nitroglycerin tastes like!"

That, and the teacher's weak, ineffectual and thoroughly pro-forma admonishments to Bakugō to not use his Quirk in school, were the only interesting things to happen for the rest of the day, for which Izuku was very grateful. Unfortunately, the lack of distraction combined with the fact that Izuku was a very intelligent boy and was thus _vastly_ over-prepared for the coursework, meant his mind had the free time to brood on his life.

Ever since his Quirk awoke when he was four, he had been looked down on. As his old friend had insinuated, Izuku's Quirk was similar to Gunhead's own. Unlike the Battle Hero though, the greenette's Quirk was classified as a Transformation Type Quirk rather than a Mutation Type like the pros. The odd colour and texture of his hands were merely a slight deviation caused by his Quirk's manifestation.

In a world where people regularly had bodies made our of stone or slime, hair of fire and electricity, actual wings, scales, and tails, and skin in every colour of the rainbow; something as simple as Izuku's blue metallic-looking hands were nothing. As a note, his hands weren't actually metal, they were as fleshy as any Quirkless person's, his skin simply had a slightly reflective sheen to it that made them look metallic.

The _technical_ name that the Quirk Counsellor had given his Quirk was **[Transforming Gun Hands]**, but Izuku, who had looked for something a lot less strict and formal to call it, had found an old game/anime character from way back before the advent of Quirks who had used a weapon that looked and worked surprisingly similar to his Quirk, so he had renamed his Quirk the **[Buster Hands]** in honour of that weapon.

As the more technical-sounding name suggested, Izuku's quirk allowed him to transform one or both of his hands into guns, blue metallic ones that resembled a thick cylinder larger than the arm it was attached to. Initially they only fired weak blasts of light or compressed wind, which was..._underwhelming_, which added to the derision he suffered under.

People were dismissive of guns because, in a world full of Quirks, only villains and vigilantes used them to hide their Quirks from the eyes of the law. Oh, the police and military used them too, but in a world of heroes, guns were seen as both a crutch and a sign of the bad times before Quirks and heroes existed...or at least, that was what Izuku had managed to convince himself of.

The day went by quickly and Izuku slouched out of school, avoiding his classmates. He'd barely made it to the school gates when Bakugō whacked him on the shoulder hard enough to make Izuku stumble...which was lightly for his friend.

"Deku, you _dumbass_." Katsuki growled, glaring at him. "You shouldn't give a flying _fuck_ about what those idiots say. Your Quirk is awesome strong, especially since it's got a part of _mine_ in it!"

"K-Kacchan..." Izuku said.

It was something that Izuku had learned he could do when he was six. By touching someone with one hand while the other hand was transformed into the basic gun, Izuku could scan that person's Quirk and create a gun that used that other person's Quirk as a base. He could then use that gun for five minutes. He could keep the gun permanently under one of two conditions; if the user of the Quirk was willing and freely allowed Izuku access or if Izuku defeated them in a fight (knocking them out or making them lose by the terms of a match generally).

The latter reason was how Izuku had acquired a gun based on Katsuki's **[Explosion]** Quirk. They'd had a practice fight with Izuku using the Explosion Launcher (the name Kacchan had given the gun) because he wanted to see how 'his gun' stacked up compared to the 'real deal' and Izuku had won with a lucky shot. Five minutes had passed and the gun hadn't gone away.

That had been what convinced one Bakugō Katsuki that his friend's Quirk wasn't just cool, but _awesome_. Who _wouldn't_ want a Quirk that got permanently stronger as you beat more enemies? Or even if friends gave you permission? Heck, even the temporary borrowing part was a kick-ass addition. Because of this, the friendship that had been slowly fraying between the two boys was instantly strengthened with Katsuki's acknowledgement that Izuku, Deku as he'd mockingly called him after his first loss, was strong.

So it both baffled and frustrated Katsuki that his friend was so damned intimidated by what other people said. His mother, Mitsuki had told him that '_not everyone has a head like a fucking armoured tank and the sensitivity of a fucking sledgehammer like you_' but he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that the opinions a bunch of worthless background characters would bother his friend so much.

'_God-damned extras!_' he mentally snarled.

"You want to hang at the shopping arcade?" he asked his friend.

"Can't. Mum wants me to grab a few things from a shop for her." Izuku shook his head. "She's taken an extra shift at the store, so..."

"Auntie Inko works too hard." Katsuki scowled. Midoriya Inko was a good woman cursed with a permanently absent husband, one Midoriya Hisashi. He had also been cutting back on the amount of money sent back to his family, citing increased living expenses in America, but his mother suspected the man had a mistress. To make ends meet, Inko had taken to doing part time jobs at a few local stores, who were happy to help her out with above average pay.

Still, even then, things were tough for the Midoriya family. Like mother like son, Inko valiantly put on a strong face in front of her friends and said she was OK...not that it fooled anyone.

"OK...well, let her know the old hag wants to have tea with her this week, Deku." Katsuki said, turning away. "I'll be in the shopping arcade if you need me."

"Later, Kacchan." Izuku said before moving off.

The errand for his mother was actually a fairly quick one, just some odds and ends that were needed for about the house that weren't sold in the shopping arcade. He wished Kacchan could have come with him, but he knew that the **[Explosion]** Quirk-user got bored easily, so that was unlikely from the outset. As was the norm when he was alone, Izuku's mind turned to his Quirk as he walked.

He had permanently adapted three Quirks into his own; His mother's **[Attraction of Small Objects]**, Kacchan's **[Explosion]** and Bakugō Masaru's **[Acidic Sweat]**. It had surprised him that even although **[Explosion]** was derived in part from **[Acidic Sweat]**, the parent Quirk was also able to be used separately. He chalked it up to his Quirk being picky.

Another facet of his Quirk was that he could alter the properties of his gun-hands, giving them the abilities and strengths of various types of guns. The default was the standard 'Buster' form, but after Izuku had started gun mechanics in order to better understand his Quirk, he'd found that, once he knew enough about how a particular kind of firearm worked, he could imitate its various properties using his Buster as a base. After several years of study and practice Izuku could easily morph his Buster to imitate machine guns, grenade launchers, gatling guns, rifles, sniper rifles, revolves and pistols with a simple moment's concentration.

Combine that with the 'Aspect Assimilation' portion of his Quirk and his **[Buster Hands]** could already become an incredibly diverse array of firearms.

The 'Attraction Shot' was a pistol-type gun he got from his mother's Quirk. It let him fire energy bullets that, when they struck something, attracted nearby objects to the point of impact, slowly, but it was a pretty cool effect.

The 'Explosion Launcher' was a grenade launcher type that fired a globule of Kacchan's nitroglycerin-like sweat at the target, which exploded on impact and was easily the most offensively powerful of his guns.

Finally, the 'Acidic Shot' was a revolver-type that fired a globule of mildly acidic liquid at his targets. It was little more than an irritant, but it was a distraction and so was useful. On an interesting note, Masaru was glad that his Quirk would be useful for Izuku to use.

'_Still...Kacchan is right...I shouldn't let everyone get me down so much._' Izuku thought as he made his way home, the bag of odds and ends in one hand. '_Kacchan, Auntie Mitsu, Uncle Masaru, Mum...all of them support me. The others don't know me and they barely know anything about my Quirk, so what they say shouldn't bother...? But it does._'

No matter _how_ he tried to convince himself otherwise, thanks to his nigh-lifelong position of being an object of disdain, contempt and bullying (before Katsuki eventually caught wind and proceeded to remind said bullies of why bullying someone whose best fried punched explosions was a _bad idea_) by most people he knew, Izuku was a victim of low self-esteem and self-confidence. If you get told something day in and day out for years at a time, you start to believe it yourself without sufficiently strong evidence to the contrary.

'_Villain!_'

'_Vigilante!_'

'_Thug!_'

'_Minion!_'

"I _have_ to get over this...how can I be a hero if I can't even conquer my own insecurities?" Izuku muttered as he walked through a tunnel. As he reached the midpoint of it, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up. Years of training and sparring with Kacchan had given him a pretty good danger sense and right now those instincts were screaming bloody murder.

"A medium-sized invisibility cloak!" a slimy voice burbled from behind him.

Izuku launched himself forward and away from the voice without a moment's hesitation ("You hesitate, you DIE!" Katsuki's voice roared from the back of his mind), barely managing to avoid several long tendril made from a slimy muck that looked they'd just oozed out a sewer. Turning his leap into a roll with the ease of long practice, Izuku managed to quickly regain his feet and turn around, only to freeze up as he caught sight of the…person that had tried to grab him.

And he used the term 'person' very loosely in this case. The thing looming in front of him was more like a giant blob of noxious, green sludge, the only components even resembling humanity in it were a pair of large, bloodshot eyes and a set of craggy teeth sitting in disjointed place at the top of the slime-thing. He knew Quirks could cause some _extreme mutations_ but this -

"You shouldn't fight kid." the slime villain (because who else would try and grab you from behind in a dark tunnel) said jeeringly. "Just give it up. Let me envelop you; after a mere forty-five seconds of pain, everything will be over!"

"You _suck_ at persuasion. _**Air Buster**_." Izuku deadpanned as he activated his Quirk. Both of his hands lit up with a pale blue glow before they started to shift and grow, transforming into the large, cylindrical shape of his default Buster Mode. With a sharp pop of displaced air, both Busters opened fire at the villain with a barrage of fist-sized air blast. Originally, he had only been able to fire one at a time before 'reloading' by breathing, but he had pushed, strived and persevered until he'd been able to start building up a 'magazine' for his 'air bullets.' Not only did it allow him to fire more freely, but with each additional shot he developed in his magazine, the resulting bullets became slightly more compressed and thus struck with significantly more force when fired.

His current magazine was 150 shots per reload, and his air bullets packed quite the surprising punch.

The Slime Villain could only roar in anger and pain as dozens of wind bullets slammed into his body over the course of a few seconds, each one ripping off a chunk of sludge and splattering it against the tunnel.

"_Gah_, you fuckin' punk! You think something like this will save you!?" The masses of sludge splattered all over the tunnel started to wiggle before they started to flow back toward the villain's main body. "Get real!" with that several more tendrils of slime shot out of villain's body toward Izuku.

Izuku reacted instantly, readjusting his aim and firing at the incoming tendrils, splattering each even as he began to slowly back up in order to open some more space. '_Some kind of cellular control that allows him manipulate his 'body' even when it leaves the main mass? Or maybe some kind of self-hydrokinesis linked to manipulating his own body?_' The greenette pondered as he continued to back away, blasting away at any tendril or limb the villain tried to form. Feeling his magazine start to run low, Izuku forced his thoughts away from his analysis and back onto the problem at hand. '_Just reloading isn't going to help me here, even if it doesn't give him a chance to grab. Looks like I need a more…_explosive_ approach._'

A sudden nervous chill erupted down his spine as he belatedly realized that he was, technically, breaking the law himself by using his Quirk like this. '_Luckily, this should probably fall under the legitimate self-dense exemption section. Hopefully I'll get off with just a warning…_' he suddenly shifted the angle of his left hand Buster to shred a tendril that had nearly gotten through due to his distraction, '_…_if_ I survive that is._'

Right, he could worry about his future after he made sure he actually had one.

"_**Explosive Launcher!**_" he roared out.

At his command, his right-handed Air Buster started to glow again before it suddenly lengthened and bulked up slightly, a handle emerging from the left side while the colouring shifted from a deep blue to a dark, camouflage green. Izuku quickly disengaged the transformation of his left hand and gripped the handle with it, using it to steady his aim as he locked onto the villain and mentally pulled the trigger.

With a loud crack, a large, clear glob of goo erupted from the end of the weapon and slammed into the Sludge Villain before detonating, splattering the attacking tendrils into hundreds of pieces and even sending the main body skidding back. Izuku didn't hesitate for a moment, mentally pulling the trigger five more time in rapid succession, each impact splattering large chunks off the ooze's main body and sending the rest skidding back. After the sixth shot, Izuku quickly reverted his hands back to Air Buster mode, freshly reloaded with a new 150 shots.

Sadly, that _still_ wasn't enough to keep the villain down. The splattered remnants that had been scattered across the tunnel were already flowing back towards the main mass, though they were moving noticeably slower than before.

'_Hopefully that meant he's starting to tire out._' Izuku thought desperately as he raised his Busters, ready to start firing again

"Brat...!" the Sludge Villain growled, rearing back to launch another attack, but then...

**"Have no fear, young man."** a voice boomed from behind the mass of slime. Both Izuku and the Sludge Villain looked back to see who it came from.

A large, heavily muscled man, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and camo green cargo trousers, with a metal belt buckle with a stylised 'A' engraved on it, stood there, having just climbed out of the nearby manhole. His blond hair was cut short, side from two tufts of his fringe, which was swept back in a distinctive 'V' shape. Even if he wasn't wearing his hero costume, there was no one living who _wouldn't_ recognise him.

**"And why, you may ask?"** the Number One Pro Hero, All Might, said. **"Because **_**I**_** AM HERE!"**

"ALL MIGHT!" the Sludge Villain howled in a mix of fear and fury. He promptly forgot about Izuku and sent a barrage of slimy tentacles towards All Might. With almost contemptuous ease, the large man avoided the attacks and rushed in, right arm drawn back.

**"**_**TEXAS...SMASH!**_**" **he shouted, throwing his fist forwards and unleashing a massive bullet of wind that dwarfed even Izuku's best shot from the Air Buster.

"Wind...pressure...?!" the Slime Villain gurgled before he was scattering into small globs all over the tunnel...except on Izuku, who looked on in shock.

'_H-holy...he punched so hard that the _air pressure alone_ was enough to tear that villain apart!_' the greenette thought in shock. '_Not only that, he aimed it, on the fly, so that not only would I only be hit with only a mild breeze, he also ensured that the hit would scatter the villain's slime around me but not on me. That, that much power but he controls it so perfectly...that's insane!_'

"A-All Might!?" he squeaked. Out of all of the heroes in existence, there were no others that Izuku fanboyed over more than this man.

**"Ah, my apologies, young man."** All Might said as he walked forwards. **"This miscreant escaped into the sewer system as he fled from me, and you were forced to defend yourself until I managed to catch up. I don't usually make rookie mistakes like that."**

"N-No, i-it's fine!" Izuku stammered. "Y-You arrived just in the nick of time, just like always! I was at my limit dealing with him, really, so don't apologise, All Might!"

**"Ahahahaha!"** the hero guffawed merrily. **"Still, you must have quite the Quirk to hold out against this character for so long. Might I ask what your Quirk is?"**

"Oh...i-it's called **[Buster Hands]**." Izuku said with a nervous gulp. "I can transform my hands into g-guns that fire bullets of compressed air or beams of focused light. I can make them have the functions and abilities of any g-gun that I've studied and I can also adapt the Quirks of others into guns if I touch them. I can k-keep the adapted Quirk guns if I have the permission of the original Quirk holder or if I beat them in a fight." he offered, raising up one of his Busters in demonstration

'_My word, that's quite the powerful Quirk!_' Toshinori Yagi mused as he listened. '_If he can truly improve his Quirk with every Quirk User that he touches and then defeats, then he will be a formidable person indeed! And that's ignoring the possibility of others willingly letting him adapt their Quirk into his own!_'

**"I see...that is indeed a formidable Quirk, my boy."** he said after Izuku finished.

"I...I guess it is, but..." the greenette said as he reverted his right hand back to normal. "People at my school keep saying it's like the Quirk of a villain, even with heroes like Gunhead. Do...do you think that I can be a hero, All Might? Even with a Quirk like this?"

'_The bias against guns rears its head again, I see._' Toshinori almost snorted but restrained himself for fear of scaring or disappointing the boy in front of him. His time in America had done wonders for curing the aversion to firearms that many Japanese held.

The Second Amendment had been given new life during the Quirk Crisis when the Age of Quirks began, as people desperately sought ways to protect themselves against criminals wielding the newly emergent superpowers.

**"Do you want to be a hero, young man?"** he asked instead.

"M-More than anything." the boy said immediately, with a light of determination sparking in his eyes.

**"Then that is what matters."** All Might said firmly. **"A Quirk does not make someone a hero; a hero is made by their own will. Regardless of what one's Quirk appears to be or what people say what it looks like, so long as you have the desire and determination to strive to become a hero, you can become one."**

He absently stamped on a clump of goo that was the Sludge Villain attempting to reform.

**"Your name, young man?"** All Might asked.

"M-Midoriya! Midoriya Izuku!" the boy squeaked.

**"Young Midoriya. Take pride in your Quirk."** the Pro Hero said reassuringly. **"I am a good friend of Gunhead, and he went through much the same sort of negative bias that you are under. You managed to protect yourself against this villain for what had to be about three minutes with your Quirk, and believe me when I say not many people your age could accomplish that against a villain. You have my word for it, my boy...you **_**can **__**indeed**_** become a hero, so long as you persevere and never give up!"**

Izuku could feel the tears filling his eyes. For so long, he had endured scorn and derision from people outside of his mother and friends, but this..._validation_, this _recognition_, from his personal hero no less, was an emotional moment for him. "I-I won't give up!" he said fervently before hesitating and then blurting out, "I-I'm planning on applying to U.A. when I graduate!"

**"My alma mater, eh? Well, Young Midoriya, you had better train yourself to the bone; the Entrance Exam is extremely strenuous."** All Might warned him as he started stuffing the slime villain into some empty ramune bottles.

"I will." Izuku nodded his head so fast that All Might was slightly worried it would fall off. "Um...c-can you sign this?"

The boy held out a notebook with a pen shakily, as if he was worried All Might would say no.

Guffawing loudly, the Pro Hero took both items, opened the book to a blank pair of pages and scrawled his signature across it, along with the date, before handing them back to the clearly ecstatic boy before gathering up the bottles of Sludge Villain. **"There you are, my boy. Now, I must away to take this scoundrel to the authorities. Fare well and I wish you the best of luck at U.A.!"**

With that sentence, his world-famous smile and a mighty leap, All Might was gone.

"Best. Day. _Ever_!" Izuku muttered, still in a daze with a silly smile on his face. "I _gotta_ tell Kacchan!"

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**Next Chapter: Sludge Villain, Second Shot**

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	2. Sludge Villain, Second Shot

"Kacchan!" - Speech

'_Dammit!_' - Thoughts

**"I AM HERE!"** \- All Might Speech

"_**Detroit Smash!**_" - Special Technique Usage

**Beta'd by BigCC**

**Chapter 2: Sludge Villain, Second Shot**

_On Top of a Nearby Roof, Musutafu_

Yagi Toshinori let out a deep huff of breath as his body shrunk, shrivelling down to his weakened, skeletal form. '_Dear god, I feel so pathetic like this._' the hero thought ruefully as he leaned against the rails of the roof to try and catch his breath. A few measly _hours_, that was all he could do to maintain his heroic form, and it was getting harder with each passing day to keep it up for that long.

Oh how the mighty had fallen indeed. All for One was probably laughing at his expense, this kind of slow withering death would have probably tickled that most despicable of villains' fancy.

'_Nighteye...I should have listened to you earlier._' he thought tiredly. His old sidekick, Sir Nighteye, had literally _begged_ him to retire after the last battle against All For One, but he'd refused. Even injured as he was, he couldn't ignore weight of the Symbol of Peace that rested his shoulders, couldn't ignore the needs of the people relying on him to make them feel safe. He had to keep fighting until a new Symbol was ready to emerge, lest the innocents of the world suffer from the anarchy that would likely follow his retirement.

At first his 'time limit' had been manageable, he could handle going at full strength for half the day, before he'd be reduced to about half-strength for the remainder. Annoying, but manageable. Now, five years later, and he was lucky if he could manage three and a half hours and he was nearly completely powerless until he could start to recover.

Double-checking the bottles where the Sludge Villain was currently confined within, the Number One Hero had to chuckle at the awe and clear hero-worship that the boy, Midoriya Izuku, had shown towards him back there. The youngster had done surprisingly well against a tricky and dangerous opponent until he arrived. He hadn't been lying when he'd said that most Junior-High kids wouldn't have been able to fight a villain for any great length of time.

'_Young Midoriya has a powerful Quirk and a strong desire to be a hero. I shall have to keep an eye out for him at U.A. High._' Toshinori thought with a tired smile.

Nezu had finally managed to convince him to take up the Foundational Heroic Studies at U.A. as a way to scout out someone capable of becoming the ninth bearer of his Quirk, **[One for All]**. Initially, he had always envisioned passing his power down to another close combatant like himself and his own Master, Nana Shimura, had been, but seeing such a surprisingly potent Quirk in the hands of a noble youngster like Young Midoriya had reminded him that **[One for All]** was not merely a Quirk that boosted one's physical strength.

Gran Torino, Nana's old partner and the man who had trained him after his Master's passing, had mentioned that, if the inheritor had a Quirk, **[One for All]** would adapt and alter itself to bring out not only its own full potential but also the full potential of the original Quirk as well. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of adaptions would take place to allow **[One for All]** to bring out the best of a Quirk like **[Buster Hands]**…

'_No, none of that!_' Toshinori reprimanded himself. '_He's proven himself to be strong and to possess potential, yes, but not worthy, not yet. I have to keep in mind that Sir Nighteye has recommended Young Tōgata as a possible contender, and I must admit that the young man's certainly grown splendidly under Mirai's guidance._'

Tōgata Mirio, who had chosen the name Lemillion for his Hero name, had truly become a powerful hero under the careful guidance of Toshinori's former sidekick. All of his problems with his Quirk, **[Permeation]**, had been solved after just a year of interning under Nighteye and the youngster was already showing himself to be far more powerful than a fair amount of Pro Heroes that Toshinori knew.

Toshinori needed time to carefully select the one who would be his successor...either that or absolute proof that a person was perfectly suited to be the Ninth Bearer.

"...right. I'd better get this miscreant to the Police as I told Young Midoriya I would." the man nodded firmly before taking a deep breath as he swelled up in his muscle form. **"Hahaha! Away I go!"**

Leaping into the air, All Might neglected to notice that the large pocket on one leg of his cargo trousers had ripped thanks to the strain of both the bottles and the sudden shift in his size. The bottles fell to the ground and smashed, releasing the Sludge Villain into the wild once more.

"I'm free...!" the villain croaked once he'd managed to draw in enough liquid from the surrounding ground water to reconstitute himself and form a working face again. "That _goddamned_ brat...! if he hadn't resisted, I wouldn't have been caught by All Might! He's gonna _pay_ for this!"

Once he had rebuilt himself to a passable size, the Sludge Villain raced off in search of a body to hide in so he could scheme his revenge on both All Might and the damned boy who had caused the Number One Pro to catch him.

_A Short Time Later_

_Musutafu Shopping Arcade_

"You're _shitting_ me!" Katsuki literally gawked at his childhood friend in disbelief. "A villain _attacked_ you and you got saved by _All Might_?!"

"Yeah!" Izuku nodded excitedly, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. "He said that I did well to hold out against the villain for as long as I did! The **Explosion Launcher** was so useful against the villain that I bet you'd have done a better job though, Kacchan."

"Heh...damn right I would have." the blond-haired boy said smugly. His Quirk _was_ awesome, after all. "But seriously, how the hell'd you manage to get ambushed by some shit villain while out shopping? I know you've got crappy luck Deku, but this is fucking _pushing_ it."

Izuku pouted a bit at that. He didn't consider himself generally unlucky, but…okay maybe Katsuki had a point. "It's not like I _asked_ for the slime guy to try and body-snatch me Kacchan." he grumbled

"Yeah, yeah...so do you _finally_ get that your Quirk is almost as badass as mine?" Katsuki pressed.

"Y-Yeah...All Might encouraged me so...I'm gonna do my best to get into U.A. with you, Kacchan!" Izuku said determinedly.

This made Katsuki grin savagely. "Good, it wouldn't do for my future number two to graduate from anywhere else but the best. Now let's get something to snack on to celebrate you finally pulling your head outta your ass!"

"Kacchan!" Izuku pouted again, but followed his friend nonetheless.

It was a good thing that he did, because seconds later, a slimy arm smashed down where he'd been standing, sending Izuku stumbling forward. Whirling around and spotting the leering form of the Slime Villain, he leapt back and activated his Quirk again, the **Air Buster** appearing on his right arm. Even as he did so though, he shouted one word aloud.

"VILLAIN!"

Thankfully, everyone in the vicinity had the common sense to clear out as soon as the shout broke them from their stupor. The Slime Villain was easily recognizable since his earlier rampage had been broadcast across the local news and the net. The only exception was Katsuki, who had quickly moved to Izuku's side, small explosions already popping in his palms as he primed himself for battle.

"This the trash that attacked you? Fucking gross." the **[Explosion]** Quirk user growled.

"Don't let him grab you. He said he wanted to use my body as a disguise, which would apparently kill me." the greenette warned his friend.

Katsuki scowled, before a feral grin spread itself across his lips. "Like I'm gonna let Slimer over there get fuckin' near me."

"Well now, _just_ the little brat I've been looking for." the Sludge Villain gurgled menacingly (a difficult feat) as he advanced on Izuku. "I owe you one, kid. Because of you, I got caught by that bastard! It was only sheer _dumb luck_ that let me escape and now, I'm about to take my frustrations out on _you_!"

With a roar, the bulged slightly before dozens of sludge tentacles burst out of his form, arcing through the air to grab and lash at the two teens.

Both boys reacted immediately, leaping out of the way. Izuku had been 'persuaded' (read: forced at explosion point) to exercise with his childhood friend on a regular basis, so while he didn't show it as much as him aggressive friend, he actually had a fair amount of muscle hidden under his normally loose and baggy outfit.

"DIE!" Katsuki snarled, throwing an open-handed right hook into the nearest tentacle and letting off an explosion directly into the mass of ooze and slime, splattering it across the ground.

His eyebrow twitched noticeably as he noted the scattered slime started to gather and pull itself back toward the original slimeball.

"Tch, slimy bastard's a lot more resilient than he looks." Katsuki growled out in irritation. It was annoying having some no-name extra of a Villain being able to withstand (or at least mostly ignore) his Quirk. Goddamn regenerators were fucking annoying!

"His regeneration's not limitless." Izuku pointed out, sounding strangely calm as he used **Air Buster** to shoot down any tentacle that got near them. "The more you blast off, the longer it takes for him to pull it back together and the more it drains his stamina. A blast big enough to scatter his entire body into small pieces will knock him out in an instant, that's how All Might beat him."

"Hah! _Dream on_ kiddies, neither of you've got anywhere _near_ the power to match up with that smiling bastard!" Sludge Villain barked out a laugh, though he was keeping his distance away from both boys. He knew what the green-haired whelp had up his sleeves and he didn't want another taste of those explosives he could launch. The blonde was also dangerous, he didn't want to risk letting the little bastard's hands anywhere near him until he was sure of how strong those explosions could get.

"Then why not try me for size!" a loud voice called before a large, muscular arm slammed into the main body of the Sludge Villain, ripping through him…and doing nothing more than annoying and momentarily distracting the slimeball.

"Death Arms, the Punching Hero!" Izuku exclaimed before realizing that the large villain was totally unaffected by the Pro Hero's attack.

"Outta my way, weakling!" the Sludge Villain roared, using several long tendrils to grab Death Arms by the arm and hurl him bodily into the air.

"_**Sensei Hitsubaku Urushi Sarō! (Lacquered Chains Prison!)**_" another voice shouted. A flurry of tree branches lashed out of nowhere, one grabbing Death Arms around the waist, while the others constricted around the Sludge Villain, trying to bind him in place.

"Now, Backdraft!" the originator of the wood, the up-and-coming Pro Hero rookie, Kamui Woods, shouted.

"_**Backdraft Triple Hose Blasters!**_" a Hero wearing a costume reminiscent of a fireman's uniform shouted. He levelled his arms, both of which ended in hose nozzles, as well as a third hose, whose nozzle emerged from his shoulder, at the Sludge Villain and fired three tremendous blasts of water at his target.

"Like I'll let those hit me!" the living sludge shouted. He body bulged again before he seemed to explode, splitting into three streams of sludge (two carrying a single eye and the third holding his teeth) that snaked their way through Kamui Woods' tree branches and around Backdraft's water blasts, reforming to one side of the startled Rescue Hero Backdraft.

With a roar, the villain brought his entire mass to bear to swat the startled hydrokinetic, bringing his entire body around to smash into his side. The blow sent Backdraft flying into the air and away from the fight. With the biggest threat taken care of, the Sludge Villain returned his focus toward his original target. Deciding that he needed to get away before even more pros showed up, but not wanting to leave without getting his well-deserved payback, the monstrous villain surged forward again, aiming straight for the target of his vengeance, Izuku.

"Kacchan, we have to get out of here! It's after me!" Izuku shouted, knowing better than to waste time even trying to persuade Katsuki that he should leave him be. Bakugō Katsuki was _not_ one to turn his back on a fight, particularly when his friend was involved.

"Where?" the blond asked, palms sparking from the urge to blast something with his Quirk.

"The rooftops! No bystanders up there!" Izuku replied confidently...just before Katsuki grabbed him, threw him over his shoulder and jumped, his hand letting out a dozen full-power explosions in rapid succession to provide both lift and propulsion.

"_**Explosive Turbo!**_" the blond boy roared as he sailed through the air. He and Izuku had been working on this trick for months now and he was pleased to _finally_ put it to practical use.

Getting the timing down perfect and learning just how much force he needed to put in each blast to get the force he needed had been a bitch and a half.

"_Get back here!_" the Sludge Villain gurgle-roared as he started to climb up after the boys, even as the brand new heroine, Mount Lady, caught Backdraft.

"What's the plan, Deku?" Katsuki asked as the two boys landed on top of a three-story office building, Bakugō just managing to clear the mesh lining that surrounded roof, which like served as a smoking area for the building's employees, given the chairs and cigarette butts scattered around. The blond boy was no slouch when it came to fighting, but he had never been one for long-term planning, instead relying on instinct and improvisation. He could hold his own, of course, when it came to tactical and strategic planning, but those were Deku's things and Katsuki was willing to admit he was damn good at them.

Bakugō Katsuki might have been a singularly egotistical and arrogant individual in many ways, but he was willing to admit when someone else showed they could hold their own in a particular field.

It made crushing them with his own abilities all the sweeter, after all.

"Kacchan, I'm going to have to use _that_ again." Izuku stated grimly as they raced to the other side of the roof, his eyes hardening as he glanced behind them where the first tendrils of the Sludge Villain had reached the roof's edge.

Katsuki blinked, before scowling furiously. "Are you fuckin' _nuts_!?" he barked out. "The _last_ time you tried to use that damn trick you nearly blew the **Light Buster** to fucking kingdom come! Your arm was in a cast for _two freaking months_ afterwards, Deku!"

"I _know_." Izuku bit out. "And this time I'll be using the **Explosion Launcher**."

Katsuki could only stare at his partner in shock. "Do you _want_ to blow your entire damn arm off?" he growled out as they reached the edge of the roof.

The Sludge Villain had just finished pulling himself onto the rooftop and was oozing his body through the mesh siding.

"I know it's risky," Izuku agreed grimly, "but it's the only way we can pull out anything _close_ to an All Might-level Smash."

Katsuki would have loved to argue that, but even he would admit that All Might was on a whole other level of power. He and Izuku had a couple ideas for super moves that might allow the **[Explosion]** user to match that kind of power eventually, but they were still months, if not years, of training away from being feasible

Gritting his teeth, Katsuki steppe forward. "Fine." He growled out. "But I swear if you lose a fucking arm, I'll rip the other one off myself and beat you bloody with it. I'll hold Slimer back until you're ready."

Izuku gave his friend a grin. That was Kacchan for 'don't get hurt' and 'I trust you.' "Thanks."

"Tch. You owe me an All Might figure for this." the **[Explosion]** Quirk user huffed. "The Silver Age one."

"Got it." the greenette nodded before shifting his right hand from **Air Buster** to **Explosion Launcher** in a flash of green light and aiming it right at the Sludge Villain. Then he began concentrating, even as Kacchan launched himself toward the rolling mass of slime and evil, explosion bursting from his hand both to splatter the villain and to launch himself out of the way of any incoming tendrils. All while screaming his native battle-cry.

"**DIE!**"

"Guh...you irritating little insect!" the Sludge Villain growled in annoyance as several explosions ripped through his body, splattering him across the rooftops and even sending several small blobs down to the ground below. He was forced to let those go, focusing on reassembling most of his body as he tried to swat away the exploding gnat.

As Katsuki fought, Izuku focused on his transformed right hand. '_The last time I tried this was when I was thirteen, and I haven't tried it since because of the damage it did._' he thought grimly. '_And that was _just_ with the _**Light Buster**_. The _**Explosion Launcher**_ is several times more powerful when it comes to sheer destructive potential...hoo boy, Mum is going to ground me for a month if she finds out about this._'

As a green glow started to build around his drum magazine, Izuku felt a small tendril of relief flow through his body. The last time he'd tried this, his **Light Buster** had simply started smoking and shaking the moment he'd started. Maybe his Buster's durability had improved as he aged, or perhaps the **Explosion Launcher** was simply more durable on its own.

'_It might have something to do with it coming from Kacchan's Quirk rather than being purely mine. A part of Kacchan's Quirk Factor is his reinforced durability to better deal with the blowback of his explosions, perhaps _**[Buster Hands]**_ copied that as well when it built _**Explosion Launcher**_._' He thought absently, before shaking his head, now was not the time to theorize on his Quirk.

He could do a more thorough analysis later if they survived this.

Refocusing, Izuku turned back to the task at hand; namely, concentrating the six rounds of explosive compound into one, single, overpowered blast. The 'Megaman' games that he'd researched from over two centuries ago had all had the ability to 'charge' their basic Buster, the so-called 'Mega Buster' that had really been the first 'upgrade' that the player got in the games.

Izuku had theorized that his own Quick could do the same by concentrating the converted 'ammo' of several regular Buster shots into a single Mega Buster shot. It had made sense in his head and all that he knew about Quirk Theory and how his own Quirk worked. Unfortunately, after his first failed attempt, and the resulting trip to the emergency room, his mother had personally banned him from trying again until he could get help from a Quirk Counsellor, something that wouldn't happen until he entered a Hero Program.

'_Sorry Mum, but I have to try! It's the only chance we've got to even temporarily disperse the Sludge Villain's entire body!_' Izuku thought determinedly. '_Even if can only combine just three rounds at once, that should be enough! So please...work!_'

As if answering his unvoiced prayers, the drum of his Quirk brightened again before shifting, transforming from a six-round design into a three-round drum. Izuku smiled brightly at the change, before his smile turned into a savage thing that looked like it belonged on either his best friend or a particularly hungry tiger.

"Kacchan, now!" Izuku roared as he adjusted his sights on the Sludge Villain

Katsuki, whose movements were starting to get more erratic as he began to start feeling himself dehydrate and the Sludge Villain began to close in on him (not that he'd ever admit that anyone) snarled in response before bringing both palms down and releasing the most powerful explosion he could as he leapt into the air. The resulting explosion not only sent him flying backwards and away from the villain, but it left Slimer reeling as well from the shock and point-blank explosion that sent chunks of his scattering in all directions.

Katsuki landed in a roll a few feet to the side of his friend even as the one of the globs hit his friend right on the left hand where it bracing the **Explosion Launcher**. In a flare of muddy green light, the limb shifted into a barrel and tank set that looked like it was taken off a Super Soaker.

"Of all the times...never mind!" Izuku ground out as he quickly reverted his left hand and levelled his Explosion Launcher at the Sludge Villain again. "_**Three Round Concentration: Mega Explosion Buster!**_"

The sound of the shot being fired was less like a grenade going off and far more like the firing of a tank's main cannon. The sheer force of it threw Izuku back off his feet and into the roof's mesh siding. The projectile screamed forwards at breakneck speeds, such that by the time the Sludge Villain realized he was in danger, the _**Mega Explosion Buster**_ had already struck his viscous body dead centre.

With a roar that would have put any of Bakugō's previous attempts to shame, the Sludge Villain detonated in a massive wave of concussive force and sound that almost completely covered the shriek of rage, fear and panic the villain let out. Small fragments of his viscous form flew out, covering the streets below even as his eyes and teeth were caught in the mesh screening that covered the sides of the rooftop.

And just like that, the danger was over.

"Ow..." Izuku managed to groan out as he slid down the side of the mesh barrier in a daze. There was a scorched hole in the roof where the villain had been standing moments ago. Several small scattered bit of his viscous body were scattered around the roof, all now looking more oversized, dried globs of snot than anything else. Down below Izuku could already hear the disgusted squawks of several civilians who'd likely been hit with charred slime.

He couldn't really blame them, that stuff looked gross.

Vaguely, he noted that one of the villain's eyes was caught in the mesh screen nearby.

"Holy shit...that was _awesome_!" Katsuki muttered out as he came over, looking at where the Sludge Villain had stood. "And you did _that_ with a gun made from _my_ Quirk...you think I could do something like that?"

"Well, yeah! It isn't like the **Explosion Launcher** is stronger than your Quirk; each 'round' is verifiably weaker than one of your regular blasts; I just focused three rounds into a single shot, so the resulting explosion was a lot more potent than what I can normally produce." Izuku said with a shake of his head to try and clear the ringing in his ears. "Think we should head home now?"

"Looks like the heroes want to scold us first." Katsuki snorted, looking over the side of the roof to see three clearly ticked off heroes standing on the ground and looking up at them pointedly.

"Better get it over and done with then." Izuku groaned. He was a bit uneasy about getting scolded by heroes, but what did they _expect_ the two of them to do when they were being chased by a villain? Give up and let themselves be drowned in slime?

The scolding from Kamui Woods, Backdraft and Death Arms went on for about fifteen minutes before Katsuki's tenuous hold on his temper snapped and he cruelly pointed out how useless the three of them had been against the Sludge Villain, while he and Izuku had taken care of him for them.

That hadn't endeared him to the three heroes, especially Death Arms, but Kamui Woods, despite his irritation, clearly recognised that while Izuku and Katsuki had illegally fought a villain with their Quirks, they had also been within their rights to defend themselves under the self-defence section of the law. The Sludge Villain had clearly been targeting Izuku and that granted the boy the right to fight back and defend himself, with his friend being granted the same right by proximity. Because of that, he let the two off with a warning and shooed them away before the three heroes joined in on the efforts to gather up the scattered pieces of the Sludge Villain from around the area.

"Tch. Damned extras." Katsuki grumbled. None of the heroes on duty today had graduated from U.A. High, nor were they anywhere near the top of the Hero Rankings in any particular field or had they done anything to impress him personally. Thus, the **[Explosion]** user had quickly and effectively mentally regulated them to the roles of supporting characters, barely better than background characters due to the fact that they were Pros and thus deserved _some_ acknowledgement.

They were simply beneath his notice or concern, and were thus treated as irrelevant.

"Kacchan, you shouldn't have been mean to them." Izuku said reprovingly. "They were just doing their jobs..."

"Yeah right! You and me did all the heavy lifting for them, Deku!" the blond boy scoffed. "We kicked Slimer's ass _without_ any help from those extras, and now they're just being' pissy because a real main character and his side character showed them up." he stated arrogantly, before looking back at his friend curiously. "And didn't you even get a new gun out of it?"

"Eh? Yeah, I did." the greenette nodded automatically, hands clenching involuntarily. "Given that it was the Sludge Villain's Quirk that I got it from, I can think of a couple of things it could do..."

As Deku started to go into detail about a couple of the more likely possibilities his Quirk could've adapted the villain's Quirk into, Katsuki couldn't help but smirk wildly.

He and his sidekick were going to _own_ U.A. High. And once they'd conquered _there_, the number one and number two slots were as good as theirs.

Behind the two boys, unbeknownst to them, Yagi Toshinori watched the two with curious eyes. He'd realised that he'd lost the bottles containing the Sludge Villain a short time after he leapt into the air from the building. Cursing his own incompetence, he'd run out of time for his transformed state and searched on foot for the villain. Toshinori had arrived just as the Sludge Villain had followed Izuku and Bakugō up onto the rooftops.

'_The power of that blast...if I had to guess, I'd wager it was less than half as strong as a __**Texas Smash**__, but it was more concentrated in its area of effect. That's the reason it was able to disrupt that villain to the same extent._' the Number One Pro Hero thought seriously as he watched the two boys. '_The blonde young man with Midoriya wasn't _completely_ wrong; while the heroes were in their right to scold them for recklessness, jealousy also played its part. It's hard for the old generation to accept that the next is going to surpass it so readily. Both boys possess a truly tremendous amount of raw power thanks to their own Quirks, and it's clear both had put in quite the effort to train them as well despite their young age. The amount of potential they both possess is simply enormous._'

Shaking his head, the skeletal version of the Hero All Might started to head home for the day, feeling every bit of the strain on his injured and mangled body. He should have kept the Sludge Villain more secure than stashing the bottles he had been trapped in than simply stuffing both into an overfull pocket! Had it not been for the fact that the Sludge Villain's targets had been capable of defeating him, Toshinori would be guilty of letting civilians be hurt due to his own failing.

'_I had thought so before this, but Young Midoriya is indeed one to watch for._' Toshinori thought. '_I'll look him up later in the week. The determination he showed when he faced that villain down...it is very promising._'

Coughing up some blood as he moved, the old hero started to make plans.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Next Chapter: Offer of an Upgrade**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Izuku's Gun Files!**

**Gun Name: Air Buster**

**Original Quirk: Initial Equip**

**Ammunition: Compressed Air**

**Magazine Size: 150 Shots.**

**Stats**

**Power: 2/5**

**Range: 4/5**

**Ease of Use: 5/5**

**Adaptability: 3/5**

**Gun Name: Explosion Launcher**

**Original Quirk: [Explosion]**

**Gun Based On: Milkor MGL Grenade Launcher**

**Ammunition: Concentrated Nitroglycerin Sweat**

**Magazine Size: 6 Shots**

**Stats**

**Power: 4/5**

**Range: 3/5**

**Ease of Use: 3/5**

**Adaptability: 2/5**


	3. Offer of an Upgrade

**Author's Note: So, this will be irritating to those who have been waiting on Naruto: The Game of Life...this chapter is being updated in its stead because I got writer's block halfway through that took me quite some time to get rid of. I in-fact only finished the chapter yesterday (17/11/2020) and it is off with my beta. I will post it when I receive it back and make any final edits, but until then, enjoy this chapter.**

"Kacchan!" - Speech

'_Dammit!_' - Thoughts

**"I AM HERE!"** \- All Might Speech

"_**Detroit Smash!**_" - Special Technique Usage

**Beta'd by BigCC**

**Chapter 3: Offer of an Upgrade**

_Later on in the Week_

_Midoriya Residence_

Midoriya Inko was a petite woman with the same green hair as her son, with a slight amount of puppy fat around her waist that she was constantly working to get rid of and a slightly weathered face that made her look a bit older than she actually was. The last was due to the constant stress of being a single mother and her various part-time jobs.

Yes, she made sure she always had plenty of sleep and three good meals, but she worked _every day of the week_. That kind of stress would run even the most chipper and energetic person a bit ragged. That, combined with the various stresses of raising a teenage boy, despite her sweet baby boy's constant attempt to reduce them for her, and it wasn't surprising that the young mother was more than a bit worn and weathered.

Izuku was her pride and joy, and it tore her apart inside that her sweet child had to suffer so much _just_ because of their society's darker stereotypes. Izuku was kind, gentle, intelligent, caring, hard-working and honest…but simply because his Quirk manifested in a way that reminded people of the darker times before the start of the Quirk Era, when multiple small-scale wars had occurred across the planet, he was looked down upon and shunned.

It made her _furious_ with herself to think about, but she knew that her precious son had been trying to shield her from the true extent of the bullying. She knew because his friend, Bakugō Katsuki, told his _mother_ and Bakugō Mitsuki had told _her_.

And of course, the little incident with the Sludge Villain earlier on in the week had made the headlines and scared both mothers silly when they saw their sons on TV, fighting a villain that looked like he'd been pulled straight from an old horror movie. Not to mention Izuku using a technique that she _distinctly_ remembered forbidding him from even practising after it nearly destroyed his arm beyond repair.

Inko had been able to retain a level-enough head to keep from punishing him for actually fighting (only an _idiot_ would punish their child for defending themselves against an honest to goodness villain), they'd still had a rather severe talk about him using something that dangerous again, even after agreeing not to.

Granted, her son had made a fair argument about it being a do-or-die situation, but it had still scared her stiff. They were going to talk more later this evening once they'd both had a chance to calm down.

She'd had an early shift this morning, so she was back a few hours before Izuku would get home from school, giving her enough time to get all the irksome-but-necessary daily cleaning done. However, her tidying was interrupted when the doorbell suddenly rung.

'_That's odd…I don't think Mitsu was going to show up today…_' Inko thought with a frown. Mitsuki had been her best friend since they were in Middle School, and had been her Maid of Honour at her wedding, just as Inko had been hers when Mitsuki had married Masaru. She often came over to keep Inko company and exercise together, but today she was busy, so it _couldn't_ be her…

Heading over to the door, Inko peeked out through the peephole and let out an 'eep!' as all she saw was a skintight red and blue uniform covering a heavily muscled chest. She still recognized the identity of the person at her door, however. After all, considering Izuku had so many posters of the man, it wasn't hard to guess!

"H-Hello…?" she said as she opened the door, revealing All Might, with his trademark smile firmly in place.

**"Hahaha! Good day, Midoriya-san!"** the Number One Hero boomed. **"Might I come in?"**

"C-Certainly…" Inko managed, opening the door fully to allow the hero inside. In the next few moments, she showed him into the living room and made him a cup of sencha. It was so surreal to have All Might himself in her home! Izuku would _never_ believe her when she told him…

**"Delicious, Midoriya-san!"** the larger-than-life man said as he enjoyed his cup, the clay cup looking like a shot glass in his massive hands.** "I've always enjoyed a nice cup of sencha, but never had a hand for making it. For some reason everyone I meet usually insists on serving me coffee instead."**

"Oh um…your time in America might have something to do with that…possibly?" Inko offered hesitantly as she sat on her own seat, mind still reeling and wondering what the Symbol of Peace was doing in her home.

**"Very likely."** All Might agreed ruefully with a slight nod. **"I **_**do**_** like coffee, make no mistake, especially in the mornings, but it's not something I have the taste for all the time. Now, to cut straight to the heart of the matter…"**

He very carefully placed his cup down before bowing his head towards a very surprised Inko. **"I am here to apologize, Midoriya-san."**

"A-Apologize? Wh-whatever for?" the green-haired woman asked in shock.

**"I take it you are aware of the...incident with the Sludge Villain that your son and Young Bakugō got drawn into earlier this week?"** the Pro Hero asked as he sat up again. When Inko offered a hesitant nod, he nodded resolutely on his own **"Good. Sadly, that entire incident, from beginning to end, was in part due to my own negligence, I am ashamed to admit. You see it was my day off and I was out doing a bit of grocery ****shopping ****and was right on the scene when that grisly fellow tried to steal a purse. I naturally stepped in and interfered, but the slippery cad managed to escape and flee into the sewers where I lost track of him for several ****moments****. By the time I caught up with him, the Sludge Villain was already attempting to accost Young Midoriya, who was actually holding his own most adroitly against the rogue before I stepped in and dealt with him."**

"H-he went after my boy _before_ the televised incident?!" Inko demanded angrily. Mostly at the villain, though she was more than a bit annoyed at her son for failing to tell her he'd been attacked _twice_ in the same day.

**"Unfortunately, yes."** All Might nodded. **"Unfortunately, since I was out of uniform at the time, I didn't have my utility belt so was forced to make do with storing the villain in some bottles I'd found nearby. As you can no doubt guess, the villain managed to slip away from me. One of the pockets I was carrying him in ripped in mid-jump and by the time I noticed and found where they'd landed, he'd already made his getaway and apparently went hunting for Young Midoriya out of revenge."**

"That…That…!" Inko Midoriya was not, generally speaking, a woman given to violence. She had _always_ been the type who'd prefer to talk things out and settle things peacefully whenever possible, but when her son was brought into the matter, this changed considerable. 'Mama Bear' was a thing for a reason, and Inko's picture should be in the dictionary next to it as a prime example.

Letting out a calming breath and reminding herself that her son was _safe_, Inko turned back to All Might and nodded. "Go on, please."

**"Ah yes, ahum."** The large man cleared his throat from where he'd been force to give the young woman opposite him a moment to get ahold of her emotions. **"By the time I was able to track down the villain, your son and his friend were already engaged with him on the rooftop. I was just about to join in when Young Midoriya launched that most impressive attack of his that ended up scattering the Sludge Villain in much the same way I'd done before. So you see, I am at fault for you****r**** son being put into harms way the other day, and I felt I must apologize for it first and foremost."**

Inko was quiet for a moment as she put her thoughts together. "If you'd had your normal capture tools, would you have been able to contain him better?" Inko asked to clarify something.

**"Most assuredly!"** The Number One agreed with a sharp nod. **"My utility belt and all its contents were personally prepared for me by my good friend David Shield on I-Island. There are miniaturized capture tools contained in that belt designed to deal with containing, or at least **_**restraining**_**, almost any kind of Quirk you can imagine. I know for ****certain**** that there's at least one or two that would have easily contained the Sludge Villain's Quirk easily enough. You can trust I'll be sure to have it on me even when I'm off duty going forward."**

Inko let out a sigh. "So long as you've at least learned from the incident, I can't really blame you for an honest mistake, especially since it was your day off and my Izuku came through it mostly unscathed." The elder verdette offered tiredly. God alone knows she wouldn't be going in to work if it was her day off, if she ever had one anyway, so a part of her couldn't help but admire his dedication to helping people, even if he'd been a bit ham-handed about it.

**"Thank you, Midoriya-san."** All Might said, bowing once more. **"I assure you; I shall be sure to carry this incident with me going forward, it's not a mistake that I will make twice. Now, speaking of Young Midoriya, after I initially subdued the villain, he asked me if he could be a hero, in spite of the nature of his own Quirk. Has he been dealing with a lot of the usual Japanese issues with firearms?"**

"Unfortunately, yes." Inko sighed sadly. "He does his best to keep it from me, trying to protect me from it, but I've noticed a few things. The worse it's come to was when a couple of other students stole one of his notebooks and scrawled graffiti all over it, writing things like 'villain' and 'thug' multiple times all over the pages. My Izuku's such a sweet boy, he doesn't _deserve_ that kind of treatment just because of his Quirk."

**"He impressed me greatly when I spoke to him Midoriya-san."** the Pro said encouragingly. **"I gave him some encouragement before I signed his notebook, which seemed to really cheer him up. I understand he's aiming to go to U.A. High?"**

"Yes…he's certainly intelligent enough; he and his friend Katsuki are always competing for the number one spot academically at Aldera Junior High." Inko smiled for a moment before frowning slightly. "I did read that the acceptance rate is fairly low for some reason, though…"

**"The Practical Exam tends to be combat-related. ****T****o be specific, fighting specially-prepared robots."** All Might informed her. **"They range ****in size ****from slightly larger than the average adult to some that are several stories high. Not many student have either a Quirk with the raw power needed to overcome them, or the ingenuity, training, or skill to utilize their Quirks in ways to overcome that lack of stopping power. This actually leads to the other reason I came. I'd like to make it up to the boys for getting them involved with all this unpleasantness, so with yours and Young Bakugō's mother's permission…I'd like to help train them both for the U.A. Entrance Exams."**

"I-Th-that's…!" Inko gasped. The _Number One Pro Hero_ was offering to _train_ her boy? "B-But Izuku's Quirk is ranged! You've never used a ranged weapon in your entire career!?"

A few facts that Izuku had happily chattered about had managed to lodge themselves in her mind as time went by.

The Symbol of Piece let out a boisterous laugh. **"True enough, but a strong and healthy body is never a bad thing, particularly for aspiring heroes."** he agreed. **"I am also, not to sound arrogant, a fairly good strategist with a wealth of experience to offer. Anything specific to his Quirk and I can contact a few colleagues for advice, I personally know Gunhead and I'm sure he'd be glad to offer a few tips given the similarities between their Quirks."**

"That's…all quite true…" the Midoriya Matriarch was lost in thought for a few moments before continuing. "But...I get the feeling there's more to it than what you're telling me."

'_She's got some sharp intuition._' Toshinori thought with a mental blink. '_Or perhaps it is simply a mother's instinct?_'

Taking in a breath, All Might responded. **"Midoriya-san, I watched your son, a young man of barely fifteen, stand up and fight a villain whose Quirk gave several ****P****ro ****Heroe****s trouble, not once but twice, and come out of it almost unscathed using only whatever training he and his friend had managed to cobble together on their own." **All Might stated seriously. **"At the same age, I would have been ****hard ****pressed to do as well as either of those young men. More than that, I see **_**immense**_** potential in both him and his Quirk, particularly if its ability to grow stronger by defeating other Quirk users holds true. Young Bakugō shows the same potential with a fierce fighting spirit and talent that clearly compliments your son's own. You ask why I want to train them? It is because I can see that both will grow into amazing heroes and I want to help see the next generation flourish."**

Inko felt herself starting to tear up. _No one _aside from the Bakugō family had _ever_ said anything like this to her...no one had ever _believed_ in her little boy like she had. To hear it from the Number One Hero himself was…well, the ultimate form of vindication. Having _All Might_, of all people, express his belief in Izuku's potential as a hero made the (very) small vindictive part of her want to rub it in the faces of all the idiots over the years who had dared to sneer at her son.

Inko Midoriya was a kind soul, but she was still human. She could be just as vindictive as any mother when it came to hurting those who harmed her baby.

"Thank you…" Inko said emotionally. "Both for your words just now and for the ones you gave Izuku. He looks up to you so much. My boy has struggled so much thanks to society viewing him so poorly due to his Quirk. I'm certain that a couple of days ago was the best day of his life because you supported him."

**"A person should **_**never**_** be judged by what their Quirk is, only how they live their lives."** All Might said with a shake of his head. **"Young Midoriya would not have had this kind of problem over in America; the Second Amendment may come with its own share of problems, but it does protect people from foolish notions of the sort that he has suffered under."**

"True enough…to return to our discussion…please take care of Izuku while you're training him." the greenette bowed towards the Pro hero. "To attend U.A. and become a hero like you has been his dream since before he even had his Quirk. I will support him as best I can, like I always promised him I would...even although it does worry me that he'll be going into such a dangerous profession."

**"The best way to assuage your worries is ensuring that he is as prepared as he can be the dangers that will lie ahead of him, and there's no finer place that will prepare him for that than U.A.."** All Might said reassuringly. **"I am actually going to be teaching there next year, as the Foundational Hero Studies teacher, so I'll be happy to ensure that Young Midoriya is taught to the best of my ability…although I would ask that you keep my upcoming status there as a secret."**

"Oh goodness...Izuku will be thrilled once he finds out…" Inko breathed. "I will, of course, keep this quiet as you asked. Now, what exactly have you planned for my boy's training…?"

_Same Time_

_Nighteye Agency, Tokyo _

As the housewife and Pro Hero got down to a proper discussion, another man was contemplating similar affairs.

Leaning back in his office chair, a tall, lean-built man wearing a gray suit and glasses sighed tiredly as he went over the Quirk Registry File that he'd used his connections to pull on the sly.

**Quirk Holder: Midoriya Izuku**

**Quirk Name: Buster Arms**

**Type: Transformation**

**Visible Marks: Skin covering the hands up to mid-wrist is coloured blue and has a reflective sheen.**

**Effect: 1) The Holder can transform his hands into firearms that can fire projectiles of either light or wind. With practice, the strength of said projectiles can be increased. Each type of projectile has a limited amount of ammunition but ammunition does replenish over time in reaction to specific outside stimulus. Maximum amount of ammunition can be gradually increased over time.**

**2) The Holder can transform the nature of their armaments into any type of firearm/projectile launcher that they can strongly imagine and have sufficient knowledge of the inner workings of said projectile. Demonstrated transformations include: pistols, revolvers, submachine guns, grenade launchers, and water pistols. Hypothesized to be able to transform into any form of tool or weapon designed to fire or project a secondary substance or item given sufficient study.**

**3) By touching another Quirk Holder, the Quirk Holder of Buster Arms can integrate the main aspects of that of said Quirk Holder's Quirk into a weapon. The type of weapon generated appears to be at random, but takes the power and potential of the copied Quirk into account. The gun lasts for five minutes per touch, but time is automatically reset through physical contact.**

**4) Should the original Quirk Holder either defeat in battle, or receive permission from, the source Holder of a copied Quirk, the new manifestation is made a permanent part of the arsenal of the Quirk Holder. No known limit has been established as to the number of Quirk Weapons able to be stored.**

It was, at best, a very basic summary on the main points of the boy's Quirks. It had no details on what other Quirk Weapons the boy currently had at his disposal outside of the two based around air and light, and no further details on either of _those_ outside of their source material. No clues on what kind of stimulus replenished the boy's ammunition or even how much he actually had for each weapon. No ideas whether or not there was any type of Quirk his own could not react to or create a new form of weapon out of.

That the boy, or his mother, had chosen to _not_ give a greater number of details about his Quirk when the Registry was being written (or update it in the years since) showed a respectable amount of good sense in his own opinion, even if it was proving to be a current irritant. Getting access to these files was not incredibly difficult, the ease of his own access proved that, so leaving only a vague, general description on the main abilities of the Quirk both fulfilled the lower limit required by law for the Quirk Registry File, _and_ also prevented anyone with untoward intentions from having too much information on the individual.

It really was _amazing_ how many villains took the information on someone's ill-gotten Quirk Registry as gospel when they were trying to get an advantage over a particular hero.

Sasaki Mirai, the Pro Hero known as Sir Nighteye, set the file down on the desk and laced his long fingers together in thought. He had met with his old friend Yagi Toshinori, All Might, recently, to try and persuade him to transfer **[One for All]** to his protégé, Tōgata Mirio. Interestingly, his old partner _had_ seemed open to the possibility and was actively considering Mirio as a possible successor, but the encounter with one Midoriya Izuku had apparently shown him that there were other options.

As nostalgic as it was to have his opinion listened to (again) by his former partner, Mirai could admit that All Might had raised several good points in regards to offering **[One for All]** to Midoriya instead of Mirio.

First off, both All Might and his immediate predecessor had been close combatants, so choosing Midoriya, who was clearly a ranged specialist by the nature of his Quirk, would act as a form of camouflage against All for One who'd likely suspect that All Might would follow his teacher's path and choose a similarly-talented successor.

It wasn't a _very strong_ point, but it made a certain degree of sense. Though Mirai personally doubted that kind of base deception would fool the man who'd ruled the criminal underworld for over two centuries.

Secondly, was the point that the best way to counter the sheer versatility of abilities that **[All for One]** granted its insidious master was with a Quirk that could gather and use multiple Quirks on its own.

As much as Mirai wished he could dismiss it, _that_ argument made far too much sense to simply ignore. Just from the brief look at his Quirk Registry and the images he'd been able to gather on both of Midoriya's encounters with the Sludge Villain he could tell that the boy's Quirk had an _immense_ amount of potential. The boy himself had shown an impressive amount of skill and acumen for someone without any formal training, which was proof of either talent or a willingness to work (or both) at least.

As much as Nighteye wished for his own protégé to continue All Might's legacy as a Symbol of Peace and believed that he had the potential to do so, he could admit that Midoriya Izuku was not without his own potential as well.

In the end they'd agreed that All Might would watch and test Midoriya over the year to come, as well as for the start of his time at U.A. High. If Midoriya had not proved himself to All Might by the end of the Sports Festival, then Toshinori had agreed to pass **[One for All]** down to Mirio. If he proved himself, then All Might would pass the Quirk onto Midoriya when he was physically capable of carrying it.

"At the very least, he's _finally_ committed to passing on the torch, that's what's important right now." the former Sidekick sighed tiredly. Despite their estrangement over the past few years, he still considered All Might a dear friend, and the vision that his Quirk, **[Foresight]**, had given him was that of the Symbol of Peace dying a horrible death from the wounds dealt to him by All for One.

Yagi Toshinori was one of the most honest and good-hearted men that Mirai had ever met, but he was also a stubborn, idealistic, and self-sacrificing _idiot_ that seemed intent on bearing the world on his shoulders alone. As All Might, he had saved countless lives and had prevented disasters that would have devastated Japan several times over. He'd put _everything_ he had into his last confrontation with the man who had murdered all of his predecessors and, if not truly killing him, had driven All for One into the deepest shadows of the world to lick his wounds and likely suffer the same type of slow death that Toshinori himself was suffering.

If _anyone_ deserved to retire and enjoy a few final years of peace then it was All Might.

'_Whether it be Midoriya or Mirio, in the end it doesn't matter, but you __have__ to retire Toshinori! It's the only way you'll survive long enough to actually enjoy the peace you fought so hard for._' Sir Nighteye thought, his frame shuddering uncontrollably as his mind was forced back to that terrible vision he'd witnessed all those years ago. In all his life, he'd never been able to alter the future once he'd witnessed it with his **[Foresight]**, but by the eight-million kami he'd change _this_ one.

He'd go beyond Plus Ultra to see his idol, his hero, and his friend survive and live a peaceful life.

_The Next Day, After School_

_Dagobah Beach_

"Damn, this place is a fucking _shithole_." Katsuki stated bluntly, as was his wont. His habitual scowl darkening as looked at the sheer amount of garbage coating the beach. "Is that a fucking _fridge_? Holy shit, is that a goddamn _truck_?! How fucking lazy can someone be to just abandon a motherfucking _truck_ on a beach!?"

The **[Explosion]** Holder had never really cared that much about small stuff like littering and the like, but _this_ was taking it to a level that was just fucking _ridiculous_.

Grow some damn civil pride already, you fucking lazy jackasses!

"Kacchan…" Izuku muttered, instinctively trying to temper his friend's rather caustic tirade, but he couldn't really argue in this case. This was simply _disgraceful_, letting a public beach degrade down to this level of disrepair. How could no one have noticed it or done something before it got this bad?

Granted, the Dagobah Municipal Beach was located at the very edge of Musutafu, right at the edge of the Industrial District, so it likely hadn't been a popular spot even _before_ the litter had started piling up. But still…!

Katsuki absently noticed Izuku rubbing his hands together, a nervous tick that the smaller teen had developed over the years whenever he was either nervous or deep in thought. "C'mon Deku, snap the hell out of it!" he snarled, drawing his friend out of his rambling thoughts. "We're going to be trained by _All Might_! He saw just how badass we are when we dealt with that slimeball and he offered to do this himself! He ain't gonna look down on you like those shitty extras."

"I k-know that Kacchan, I'm just…I'm worried that I won't be able to live up to his expectations…" the verdette fretted, before descending into another mutter storm, his hands rubbing together at a pace that Katsuki honestly wondered if they were going to start sparking soon.

Rolling his eyes, Katsuki reached out and lightly thwacked his childhood friend across the back of his head to snap him out of it. He'd been doing this since they were three fucking years old and he was now a master at measuring the severity of a mutter storm and applying just enough force to snap his sidekick out of it.

This one was only a Category 3, probably offset by Deku's own excitement. He practically had to use his Quirk to snap the nerd out of it when he reached Category 10. Thankfully, _those_ were rarer than fuck these days.

"Damnit Deku, if you put all the energy you waste _fretting_ over everything into actually _training_ then you might actually be able to beat me more often in our spars." he snapped as his friend rubbed the back of his head, though there was no heat in it. "This is the chance of a fucking _lifetime_, Deku! The goddamn Number One Pro Hero, _All Might himself_, wants to train us! Do you know how many fucking _Pro Heroes_ would give an arm and a leg for a chance like this, never mind a couple of kids who haven't even started Hero School yet! Are we gonna screw up a time or two? Maybe, we're untrained _kid__s_ dammit! But y'know what we'll do if that happens? We'll pick our asses up, take whatever criticism All Might hands out, and get fucking better. 'Cause we're gonna be top damn Heroes!"

"Kacchan…" Izuku stared at his best friend for a moment, blinking back tears before nodding firmly. "Y-Yeah, you're right. We just have to give our all!"

"**AHAHAHAHAHA! Now that's the kind of attitude a U.A. hopeful should have!"** All Might boomed out as he slammed down to the ground next to them. **"Greetings, Young Midoriya and Young Bakugō!"**

"A-All...Might…" Izuku bowed jerkily. "Th-thank you for t-training us!"

"Yo." Katsuki said casually, affecting nonchalance. The slightly manic and excited smile on his face put paid to any success he may have had, however.

**"The chance to train two such promising members of the next generation is a privilege, so if anything, I should be thank you two for agreeing to let me train you." **the large man responded with a laugh before clapping his hands together. **"Now, before we get started, I need to understand your Quirks, since you****r**** Registry files only give the basics and I'll need quite a bit more than that to properly plan this out."**

"Ah, I can help there." Izuku piped up excitedly. He pulled a pair of thin booklets from somewhere and offered them to the perplexed Pro. "I copied these from my other notebooks, so...they should tell you everything you need to know about our Quirks."

"Che. Looks like your nerding out is actually gonna pay off for once." Katsuki jibbed with a smirk.

"Kacchan…!" Izuku pouted.

All Might flipped through the two booklets with all the ease of someone used to reading reports. His eyebrows rose as he scanned the information therein.

'_My goodness, these are quite well-written. Clear descriptions, and both seem to have been broken down and __analysed__ to a point I can understand them easily. They're better written than some of the reports I've received from professional analysts!_' The Pro thought in shock. '_Not only that, he's included previous training results, possible combat strategies, weaknesses, possible areas of focus and improvement, and even combinations with other known Quirks. What a scary talent, and isn't even related to his Quirk!_'

As someone who'd been Quirkless before receiving **[One for All]**, Toshinori had tried to never be purely reliant on his Quirk in any given situation. _Despite_ what some other Pros, such as Eraser Head, might have thought of him, he _was_ a fairly intelligent person and had learned to out-think his opponents as well as simply overpowering them. Having worked with Sir Nighteye, whose Quirk was something that most would not associate with direct combat, for years he was well aware of how important out-thinking an opponent could be. Most of the time when Mirai fought, he'd already beaten his opponent _long_ before the first punch had been thrown.

No, All Might knew the value of being smart, even if most couldn't see it behind his boisterous and forward persona.

And Midoriya Izuku had broken down his and his friend's Quirks down in such thorough detail that the Pro honestly doubted that someone without an actual _Analysis Quirk_ could add anything to it. That kind of ability was something to be nurtured and trained, he'd have to include it in his training plans going forward.

**"Oh my, Young Midoriya! These are quite well made and thorough. Very well done young man!"** he boomed, shooting the verdette a thumbs up. **"Do you mind if I keep these for reference?"**

"O-Of course, please do!" Izuku stammered out, blushing brightly at the praise and causing All Might to chortle.

**"Very good."** the Number One nodded as he slid both booklets into his back pocket. **"Now, to start off your training, you'll both be doing the same exercise regime while working to clean up this beach!"** he explained, gesturing out to the virtual wasteland of junk. **"With so many different objects of different weights, sizes, and shapes you'll be able to exercise all your muscles thoroughly, even ones that don't see regular use. We'll also be incorporating Quirk testing and training to get you both using your Quirks to the best of your abilities. This is the foundation of my 'Aiming to Pass: American Dream Plan'!"**

"Hell yeah!" Katsuki grinned with a gleam in his eyes. _This_ was just what he was talking about! He'd looked into gyms before but most of the ones he'd found hadn't offered anything close to the kind of workout he and Izuku were looking! Most were full of ass-kissing pussies that wouldn't know how to push themselves to save their lives!

**"Before we begin, however, can I ask you what it was you used to defeat the Sludge Villain after he escaped from me, Young Midoriya?"** All Might asked.

"O-Oh, yeah...that would be this." Izuku said, forming a familiar weapon from his right hand. "This is the gun that's formed out of Kacchan's Quirk, the **Explosion Launcher**. I combined and compressed three of the shots it gives me into a single round before firing it. It's a technique I call _**Mega Buster**_, as it powers up the shots fired from any particular gun...or it's _supposed_ to."

"The dumbass almost lost an arm when he tried it a couple years ago, but that's because the idiot tried to compress the _entire magazine_ of the **Light Buster** into a single round." Katsuki added. "This time, he did it with only half of the **Explosion Launcher**'s ammo, and that one's got a _tiny_ ammo capacity."

**"Hmmm…I see."** All Might mused. "Young Midoriya, could you try firing another of these '_**Mega Busters**_' using the **Light Buster**? Do it slowly and don't go beyond…let's stop at 25% of your magazine capacity this time."

"Er…uh, sure thing sir…" Izuku gulped out nervously, but dutifully transformed his arm from the **Explosion Launcher** into the **Light Buster**. Visually, the **Light Buster** was nearly identical to the **Air Buster**, both being mostly smooth cylinders of dark blue metal emerging from the base of his wrists, only the **Light Buster** lacked the small air intake ports located at the base of the **Air Buster**. "A-Anything in particular I should aim for?"

**"That fridge would be an ideal target…it looks as if whoever dumped it didn't **_**empty**_** it first."** All Might wrinkled his nose in disgust. He would have to see about convincing the local heroes to keep an eye on this beach once it was cleaned to prevent this from happening again; it was simply disgraceful that this place had been allowed to get this bad in the first place!

"Here I go…" Izuku said and mentally reached for the magazine of 'light bullets' that his **Light Buster** had. The **Light Buster** had a magazine of 200 shots, and was fully loaded whenever he brought it out. Slowly, Izuku mentally selected the top 50 'rounds' and began to slowly compress and combine them into a single round.

"Well, it's _definitely_ going better than last time." Katsuki muttered as he glared at where Izuku's **Light Buster** was glowing with a soft yellow light. "Last time it started smoking and cracking right away."

**"You said this happened about four years ago, so Young Midoriya would have just been turning 1****1**** then correct?"** All Might asked curiously.

"Just a couple months after he'd turned eleven, yeah." Katsuki answered with a nod.

**"Then it was likely a result of reaching too far, too soon, and the fact that his Quirk was still developing."** All Might pointed out. **"Like a lot of biological factors, Quirks tend to develop quite a bit during puberty, it's one of the reason Hero Training waits until High School to begin, so that Quirks will be given a chance to develop naturally before being pushed by Hero Training. His [Buster Arms] likely couldn't handle the strain before, but **_**now**_**…"**

"_**Fifty-Round Combination: Mega Light Buster!**_" Izuku shouted, a blast of yellow light leaving his Buster's muzzle and slamming into the old fridge so fast that if a watcher blinked, they'd have missed it.

All Might walked over and inspected the fridge carefully. The blast had struck dead centre and nearly buckled the fridge in half from the force, causing a deluge of gunk to splatter across the sands. The Number One also quickly noted the complete lack of scorch marks across the portions he could still see. Just as the boy's notes had said, the **Light Busters**' projectiles seemed to be purely masses of condensed, solidified light, meaning that there was little to no heat produced.

**"Well now, **_**that**_** was quite the impressive attack young man."** The Pro offered with an approving nod. **"The biggest downside that I'm seeing is the amount of time it takes you to 'charge' a shot to this level. Hopefully that's something we can improve with time and practice. We'll have you able to smash robots in no time!"**

"Is that what the exam for U.A. is this year?" Izuku asked curiously.

**"It's been the exam for…oh, must be going on ten years now."** All Might said with a laugh. **"**_**Much**_** easier to set hard limits to what levels of combat efficiency they're allowed to use than a bunch of Pro Heroes, not to mention cheaper. I'll not give you any specifics, but let's say that there are various types and leave it at that."**

He decided to neglect to mention how some people (Aizawa) wanted to scrap it in favour of more individualized exams for each student. It would never happen (due to time and expense constraints), but it was better not to worry them without cause.

"So we get to cut loose and smash a buncha bots during the Entrance Exam?!" Katsuki latched onto the one part that interested him the most. He could count the number of times he'd been allowed to let loose with his Quirk on _one hand_.

**"Hahahaha! Indeed!"** the muscular man guffawed. **"Now, let's begin our training session for real! We have a lot to do and only ten months to whip you two into shape! Ready to sweat?"**

""Yes sir!"" the two boys replied eagerly.

Thus began ten months of hell for the pair of friends…

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**Next Chapter: Robot Busting**

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